AN: Surprise! I finished a new chapter and am to impatient to wait until Monday to post. So you get the newest chapter now. Thank you for your continued reviews and to all the people who have amazingly followed this story for almost a year. That's amazing. Thank you.

Somehow this chapter, it's not my fault. I don't know how, but it's not. Also, here are some tissues?


Anna woke with a start, disoriented and chilled. When her eyes adjusted to the dimness, she saw unfamiliar stone walls, a narrow window that allowed a sliver of grey light into the room. She didn't know what had woken her, but something certainly felt. . . off.

She pushed herself upright in bed, digging a palm into her sleep-encrusted eyes. She hissed and pulled the hand back, squinted at the bandage wrapped around her palm. It struck her then, what felt so wrong.

Elsa.

Just that morning she, Alarik, Kristoff, and Rune had hurried through the dim hallways of Hasvik Keep, searching for the path that would lead them to the waiting Arendellian ships. To Malthe, who had joined them on their mission and had been standing by "just in case." Anna had hoped at the time it would turn out to be an unnecessary precaution.

It did not.

As they had moved through the Keep, Anna kept shooting looks at Kristoff. More specifically, at the unmoving bundle in his arms. Her heart thumped painfully within in her chest as each moment passed with no sign of movement from her sister. Several times, she had to assure herself that Elsa was still breathing, however shallowly. That she hadn't — each time, Anna bit down on her lip and looked away, unable to finish the thought. Unable to allow herself to finish the thought.

Alarik led the way through the halls, his sword at the ready, in case they encountered any resistance. Anna kept pace with Kristoff, unwilling to move outside of arm's reach of Elsa, keeping a white-knuckled hold on her shield, ready to protect her sister at all cost.

Assuming they were moving the right direction, they had been making good time when they heard clamoring ahead, unseen just around the corner. The three of them slowed to a stop, trading looks. With a silent agreement, Alarik moved slowly toward the intersection, and Anna held her breath as he peeked around the corner. Her heart skipped when he lowered his sword, his shoulders slumping.

"Sir," Alarik said breathlessly.

The Admiral turned the corner, coming into view. "Captain," he returned.

Anna felt dizzy with relief. They were going to be okay. Naismith wouldn't let anything happen to Elsa, and he would know the way back to the ship.

The older man's gaze drifted over the group, pausing on Anna for a moment before locking onto the bundle in Kristoff's arms. "Please tell me that's not—"

"It's the Queen," Alarik answered. "She's badly wounded. I'm not—" he stopped, his eyes flitting to Anna then back to Naismith. "We need to get her back to the ship so Malthe can—"

Admiral Naismith shook his head before Alarik could finish. "He's not on the ship." He turned toward the soldiers standing with him and sent one ahead. The man took off at a sprint, and Naismith directed the rest to continue without him, then started back the way he'd come. "Malthe set up a medical ward just two floors up," he explained as the others followed his hurried steps.

Kristoff blinked. "Is that safe with the fighting going on?"

"The Vindarr surrendered," the Admiral said.

Anna's head snapped up, her eyes widening. She hadn't been expecting to hear that. She knew going in that even with the Sirma's help and the larger Arendelle force, the Vindarr mages had the advantage. Because of that, they had never made a plan to hold the Keep, only to hold off the Vindarr long enough to get Elsa, hopefully get Markkus, and get out.

The group had moved rapidly through the hallways, Naismith turning a corner and heading up a set of stairs as he led them up to the next level. They hurried down the hallway, and it wasn't long before she saw Malthe heading in their direction. He stopped, visibly shaken by the sight of them, but recovered quickly, gesturing toward Kristoff to follow him. "How is she?"

"Her right arm is broken," Kristoff answered breathlessly, struggling to keep pace with the much older man, weighed by more than just his visible burden. "There's a large gash on her left side that was bleeding heavily. She was awake for a bit, but never really lucid. She didn't seem to understand what was happening and lost consciousness shortly after. She hasn't moved since."

Malthe nodded sharply. He stopped in front of a room, pushing the door open. "In here." He paused to give orders to the soldier Naismith had sent ahead of them, Listing items the doctor needed to care for the wounded Queen. Anna tried to follow him into the room, but Malthe stopped her with sympathetic eyes and an apology, then swiftly ducked inside and closed the door.

Anna had stared door, taking some minor comfort in the knowledge that Kristoff was inside helping the doctor, along with another medic. She knew Kristoff had been allowed to stay only because the ice harvester had more than a basic understanding of medicine, having to learn it to survive in the mountains, but she couldn't help the sliver of jealousy she felt, that he was in there while she was regulated to waiting in the hallway. Once again, there was a door standing between her and her sister. Rune sat in front of the door, her snowy white head tilted like she didn't understand why she wasn't allowed in the room.

"Sir." Alarik's voice had tugged Anna out of her spiraling thoughts. "What happened? Why did the Vindarr surrendered? Last I checked, they had the upper hand. Or at least, their mages did."

Anna moved closer to the two men. She wanted to know the answer, but even more than that, she wanted a distraction from the closed door and what was taking place behind it.

"I'll admit, I'm not entirely clear on what happened," the Admiral said. "They had us pinned, and then those damn crystals that their mages wear just . . ."

"Exploded?" Anna offered when the Naismith trailed off.

He glanced at her. "Yeah, something like that."

"I think it was Elsa." Anna tried to keep her voice steady, wanting to be strong. It was what her sister would do, but there was still a tremble in her voice. "We found Tyr. He had one of the Vindarr's crystals. There was, uh, a really cold shockwave, and ice covered the crystal just before it exploded," she had said in a rush, her mind feeling like a jumbled mess as it tried to sort through the events of the past few hours.

Naismith lifted an eyebrow, shifting his gaze to the closed door. "If it was the Queen, then she saved a lot of men. Without their magic, the Vindarr were quick to surrender, though I think they were as confused as we were." After a silent moment, he asked, "is Tyr . . ."

"Dead, sir," Alarik answer.

"Was it you?"

Alarik shook his head. "We're fairly certain it was the Queen, though we didn't see the fight, only the aftermath. Tyr was a frozen statue in the middle of a destroyed courtyard."

The Admiral drew his head back sharply, shock written across his face. "The Queen fought Tyr?"

"And won. Though not without. . ." Alarik gestured toward the door.

Naismith had sighed deeply, folding his arms over his chest. A thick silence fell over them. The Admiral turned toward Anna. "You realize, when she recovers, the Queen is going to murder us all for allowing you to come here tonight?"

Malthe, Kristoff, and the medic had spent hours in the room with Elsa. She was in terrible shape, her injuries far more extensive than they originally thought, but they managed to stabilize her. They set the broken bones, bandaged the cuts, and stitched the open wounds. It seemed, for a moment, that everything would truly be okay. Elsa was finally resting peacefully, her pulse steady, her breathing calm. She was okay.

She just needed rest.

It was late in the day when Anna had finally been allowed into the room to see her sister. Once she recovered from the initial shock of seeing Elsa lying prone, pale and bruised, she carefully cleaned the blood from her sister's face, so that she could pretend Elsa was only sleeping. Anna sat back, watching her sister, studying her every breath, her every wince. Elsa looked awful, her skin ghostly pale with beads of sweat dotting her flesh. Her cheeks stood out, bright red under the darkening bruises and angry cuts. Anna knew she was running a slight fever; Malthe had been concerned but told her it was expected. Elsa's chest rose and fell in stuttered, shallow breathing, and every so often there was a concerning pause that caused Anna's own chest to tighten as she waited for her sister to draw the next shallow breath. Then she would draw another, and eventually fall back into the raspy, stuttered pace.

She wanted to reach out and grab Elsa's hand and hold it in her own, but just as she'd been the night before, Anna was terrified that she might break her fragile, wounded sister. And so, she kept her distance, and kept her trembling hands clasped tightly on her own lap, picking at the bit of gauze wrapped around her own palm.

Anna stared at her sister, studying every mark that marred Elsa's normally smooth, pale skin. Committing each bruise and cut to memory, whether she intended to or not. As much as she wanted to forget this entire ordeal had ever happened, she knew that was an impossibility. She had been changed forever, and there was no doubt in her mind that Elsa would likewise never be quite the same.

Assuming she pulled through this.

Anna averted her gaze and blew out a breath, willing the tears not to fall, but as each moment passed, it was getting more and more difficult to keep her emotions in check.

A soft knock on the door had drawn her attention, and she looked up as Kristoff stepped into the quiet room. His gaze lingered on Elsa's prone form for a long moment. "Hey," he finally said, with a smile that came nowhere near his eyes. "How's she doing?"

Anna swallowed thickly and shook her head. "Same. Malthe said the fever is a good sign, that she's sti—" She stopped, trapping her bottom lip between her teeth and dropping her gaze to the floor as her vision blurred. She angrily swiped at the tears trailing down her face.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, Kristoff squeezing gently. "You know, she's not going to blame you, for any of this."

"No," Anna said thickly. She knew her sister well enough to know exactly how this would play out, even though Anna was the one who had started this, that day when she walked out of the Baron's manor and went to see Erik. She'd do anything to take those moments back, to stop and listen to her sister, her reasoning. But she couldn't, and she knew that when Elsa woke up where the blame for everything would fall. "She'll blame herself. And that's worse."

She heard Kristoff release a heavy breath and knew that he knew it was true. Elsa would always take the weight of everything onto her own shoulders. Anna scrubbed her hands over her face, then slouched back in her seat.

"You should get some sleep."

Anna shook her head. "No, that's okay. I don't want to leave her alone."

Kristoff knew better than to argue with her when it came to staying by her sister's side, and he retreated with an offer to bring Anna a hot chocolate. She nodded, but didn't know if she would actually be able to drink it. It felt wrong to enjoy a warm, comforting beverage while Elsa was lying in front of her in very obvious distress. In pain.

She still didn't know the story behind what had taken place between Elsa and Tyr. It had forced her overactive mind to create horrific scenes that played out over and over as she watched her sister breathe. In every one, she stood by helplessly as Elsa was brutally attacked, while she barely escaped the scuffle with her life.

Anna was playing through another one of these scenarios when, without warning, Elsa gasped, a tortured, breathless sound that shook Anna to her core. She bolted upright in her chair, fingers grasping painfully at the armrest.

Elsa's face crumpled, her own fingers twisting in the blanket as she pressed her head back into the pillow and arched her back, struggling to pull in another painful-sounding breath. There was a wet, whistling sound from within her sister's chest that Anna knew wasn't right. The next breath Elsa managed was weaker than the previous one, and the pause between each one was getting longer and longer. Anna shot out of her chair and ran to the door, yanking it open.

"Get Malthe, now," she ordered the guard stationed just outside the room. She didn't wait for a response before rushing back to her sister, her hands hovering, at a loss of how to help as Elsa continued to struggle through each breath.

The doctor had rushed back into the room and assessed the struggling Queen. He used a word Anna didn't understand and was convinced he had made up. Malthe told her it meant that there was blood filling the space between Elsa's chest and lungs, making it difficult for her to breathe.

That, Anna understood.

Then Elsa's fever spiked, coming on fast and ruthless. The wound on her left side had become infected and had to be reopened so he could properly clean out.

Elsa wasn't okay, and she needed so much more than rest.

That had been late in the evening. Anna didn't know what time it was now, only that the last she heard, Elsa was crashing hard, and she wasn't there with her. Anna jumped up, ripping the blankets back. She was halfway out of the bed when two large hands stopped her progress.

"Whoa, hey, relax." Kristoff blocked her path.

"Wha?" Anna blinked, struggling to organize her thoughts into something approaching coherence.

"You fell asleep in the hallway outside Elsa's room," Kristoff said softly. "I thought you'd sleep better in an actual bed. You're in the room right next to Elsa's."

Anna dragged her hands over her face, calming herself. "How long was I asleep? Is Elsa—"

"Maybe an hour or so. Malthe is still in with her. Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything."

Anna threw her legs over the side of the bed and pushed past Kristoff. He didn't stop her, understanding there was no point. He followed her back out into the hallway where Rune sat at the door, staring at it with soulful eyes. Anna knew she couldn't - or at least, shouldn't - barge into the room. Frustrated, she paced in the hallway, only vaguely aware of other movement in the area, other people who might be there with her.

The only thing she could think about, the only thing that mattered, was that Elsa lay on the other side of this door, badly wounded. Before long, Alarik came running in, to be soon followed by the Admiral and Captain Jogeir, who had all heard that the Queen had taken a turn for the worse.

Anna knew she was supposed to be strong. With Elsa . . . hurt, it was up to her to put on a brave face and make everyone think she was calm and in control. She had seen her sister do it countless times, but Anna wasn't Elsa, and she could never hope to measure up. The best she could do was keep herself from falling completely apart in front of everyone. So, she bit her lip and continued to pace, trying to distract herself.

Anna hugged herself as she waited on the doctor. Kristoff had attempted more than once to comfort her, or at least get her to sit down, but she was too anxious to be still.

This was all too much. It seemed that every time Anna almost got her sister back, Elsa was yanked away by something else, some other force keeping them apart. Perhaps this was her punishment for not listening to her sister when Erik first approached her. Anna would do anything to take it all back, to return to that morning in Valle and make a different decision.

Finally, Malthe stepped out of Elsa's room. His solemn, tired expression caused Anna's stomach to drop to the floor. As she waited for him to speak, she couldn't even breathe.

"We were able to drain the fluid off her lungs," the doctor told her. "We drained the infection and packed the wound, but—" he wrung his hands in front of him, displaying a nervousness Anna had never seen before in the man "—the Queen's fever is very high, and she is very weak."

Anna shook her head, not comprehending what he was telling her. "What does that mean?"

Malthe was silent for a long moment, then tilted his head sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, but the Queen is dying."


"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but the Queen is dying."

Then tell her to stop.

There were things, moments in Anna's life she would never forget. Her parents' arms wrapped around her and her sister, the feeling of ice crawling across her skin as she slowly froze. The way Elsa said her name when she wanted to scold her but was trying not to laugh. That first hug after thirteen years of separation.

She remembered the times they had played together when they were little, before the accident. A dusty, long forgotten memory floated to the surface. Anna couldn't recall how old they had been, or what had happened, only that she'd been very annoyed at her sister, Elsa was doing something she didn't like.

Anna had run off to tell their mother, her face red and pinched. Her mother had looked up from her book, smiled softly, and told her, "then tell her to stop." It had been such a simple solution for such a simple problem. Elsa always had a hard time saying no to her, had always been willing to go along with Anna's schemes and games. Maybe if she had learned to say no all those years ago, they would have never been separated. But that was a thought for another time; right now, she needed her sister to listen to her, to give in to her request.

She needed her sister to fight.

Anna sat again beside Elsa's bed, with her chair pulled so close, it was pressed against the mattress. Rune was sitting on the floor, her large head resting on the foot of the bed. Anna leaned forward and brushed her fingers through her sister's messy blonde hair. There were bits of dirt and blood still staining the strands. Anna had done her best to wash it out with a wet cloth, but there was only so much she could do.

Anna bit her lip as she watched her sister's chest stutter over every breath. Malthe told her that Elsa had broken three ribs on her left side, and that one of the bones had nicked something important inside, and caused internal bleeding that led to her lung collapsing. It had all gone over Anna's head; the only thing she really understood was that they had fixed the issue, but her lung would need time before it was fully functional again. That meant for the next few days, Elsa was going to continue to have issues breathing. Assuming she made it that long.

Malthe had done everything he could. Every other hour, he returned to check on Elsa's lungs and the wound on her side, but her temperature was still dangerously high, her breathing shallow and labored. Each time he visited, the doctor's expression was more and more drawn, and Anna didn't need him to tell her that Elsa was slipping away. She could see it. Feel it. After everything she'd gone through, it was just too much.

Tears filled Anna's eyes, and this time she didn't bother to try and stop them from falling. She leaned forward and scooped up her sister's hand, folding it between her own. Soft gauze covered Elsa's wrist from where the cuffs she wore for so long had rubbed the skin raw.

It had been early in the day—though it felt like a lifetime ago—when Jogeir dragged Erik into the room and told him to find a way to remove the cuffs. As it turned out, he had a key, after all.

Anna pressed her lips against Elsa's knuckles, a sob escaping her throat. She lifted her head, her thumb tracing patterns over the small patch of unmarred skin.

"You remember when we were younger? I would sit outside your door for hours, just talking, telling you about my day, about what happened," she whispered softly. "There were days I could hear you giggling on the other side. I would look for your shadow through the crack under the door, the times you'd be sitting right there. I treasured those moments, because I knew you were there, listening. I could never understand why you'd listen, but never let me in.

"I know now you were just trying to protect me. You're always trying to protect me. And how have I repaid that? By not listening to you. At your coronation, and again in Valle, I ignored you, and you paid the price of my ignorance. You should think me the worst sister in the world, but I know you won't. I know that no matter how much I screw up, no matter the price you end up paying for it, you will still love me. And I think that makes it worse.

"You should hate me, threaten to exile me. Anything. I deserve it and I will take the blame for everything, if you will just open your eyes."

Anna pressed her forehead against Elsa's still fingers. "Please," she begged with a sob. "I'm so sorry." She choked on a lump in her throat as the flood gates opened, and she couldn't have stopped it even if she cared to. "Please, don't give up. Don't leave me behind."